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Wyoming WY

Comprehensive  ·  Lead regulator: Wyoming Division of Banking; Wyoming Stable Token Commission; Secretary of State  ·  Reviewed August 12, 2026

The laboratory: SPDI banks, DAO law, and a state-issued stablecoin.


Wyoming spent seven years legislating itself into the center of US crypto law. Its Special Purpose Depository Institution charter (2019) created a bank built for digital asset custody with 100% reserve requirements; its property-law statutes classified digital assets and secured their treatment under commercial law; the 2021 DAO LLC law and the 2024 Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act gave decentralized organizations working legal wrappers used far beyond the state; and dozens of companion acts cover everything from utility tokens to private keys, which courts may not compel disclosure of except in narrow circumstances.

The 2023 Stable Token Act produced the most distinctive artifact: WYST, the first stablecoin issued by a US state, launched in August 2025 by the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, fully backed by cash and Treasuries with income flowing to the state school fund. Wyoming's regime is permissive by design, but it is a real regime: chartered institutions face examination by the Division of Banking, and the state's framework has repeatedly supplied templates for federal debate, from crypto-native bank access to Fed accounts through DAO liability.

The instruments

Special Purpose Depository Institutions Act

In forceWyo. Stat. § 13-12-101 et seq. (2019)

Charters full-reserve depository institutions serving digital asset businesses: custody with bailment treatment, no lending of customer deposits, and Division of Banking supervision; the model for crypto-native banking arguments nationally.

Penalty exposure. Unchartered banking activity violates Wyoming banking law.

DAO LLC law and DUNA

In forceWyo. Stat. § 17-31 (2021); DUNA Act (2024)

Recognizes DAOs as limited liability companies with member-managed or algorithmically managed governance, and (via the DUNA) as nonprofit associations able to contract, hold assets, and appear in court while remaining decentralized.

Penalty exposure. Entity-law consequences only; no penalty regime.

Wyoming Stable Token Act and WYST

In force2023; token launched August 2025

Authorizes the Stable Token Commission to issue a fully backed, dollar-redeemable state stablecoin; WYST launched on multiple public chains in August 2025 with reserves in cash and Treasuries and earnings directed to the state school foundation program.

Penalty exposure. Reserve and redemption duties bind the Commission by statute.